Plum Party
by VampirePrincess858
Summary: This Year Stephanie is going to throw the biggest, baddest party the Burg has ever seen...maybe. ... Can she capture the murderer while hosting a party and trying to fend off Joe and Ranger without being killed? Or will the ball drop on Steph?
1. Chapter 1

**This New Year Stephanie is going to host the biggest, baddest party the Burg has ever seen… maybe. After receiving threats concerning the up coming party, Stephanie is inclined to cancel. Unfortunately, her mother isn't thrilled with that plan and Stephanie is sick of being a disappointment to her mother, so the party preparations continue. Somewhere in the throng of townspeople Stephanie is being stalked by a homicidal maniac bent on wiping her off the grid, permanently. Can she capture the murderer by midnight while also hosting a party, and trying to fend off Joe and Ranger without being killed? Or will the ball drop on Steph? This is one party Trenton will **_**always**_** remember. ( Okay this is my first story I have put on so I would really love some feedback, thanks)**

Chapter 1

When I got up I felt awful. I had gotten no sleep at all, I was up all night worrying about my mother planning my New Years party. _Of course _I had to let her she's my mother and she would have been upset. It would have been another black mark on my record, another disappointment on the list (and believe me it was a big list).

Sighing I got out of bed and took a shower. The hot water felt so good I stayed under it until the water turned cold. Lazily I toweled off and got dressed. After I put makeup on and dried my hair, I went out to the kitchen for coffee. Once I was finished with the coffee, I looked around my kitchen for breakfast and selected a piece of pineapple upside-down cake left over from dinner at my parents. Then I rummaged around the fridge and came up with a carrot for Rex, my hamster. I dropped the carrot into his cage and watched while he scurried out from his soup can bed, grabbed the carrot, and ran back into the can.

As I went by the answering machine I saw that the red light was blinking so I pushed the button to listen to them. The first one was from Morelli "Call me," the second was from my mother "Stephanie come over for dinner tonight I want to go over some party details with you, and bring Joesph." I tried to come up with an excuse my mother would buy for why I couldn't come to dinner and groaned when I couldn't come up with one, maybe I will come up with one later. "Yeah right!" I told myself. No one could get out of dinner with my parents unless they died and even then they would be mad that they had to die before coming to dinner.

I knew that I had to go but that didn't mean I had to go alone, right? I dialed Morelli's number, he picked up on the third ring.

"Hey" he said.

"Hey, Yourself," I said, "what's up?"

"Want to come over tonight? Bob misses you."

"Will there be pizza?" I asked.

"And beer."

Fortunately he had said just what I wanted him to, letting me know he was desperate for me to come over by using the "Bob misses you" line.

"Okay," I said, "under one condition. You have to go to dinner at my parents with me tonight." I bit my lip and crossed my fingers hoping my plan worked.

He sighed, "You drive a hard bargain," there was a brief pause on the other side "Okay but I might be late, I'm working tonight."

"Nice try," I said smugly, "I called the station you don't have to work tonight so if you don't go I wont show." I hadn't really called the station but I did know Morelli and he'd do anything to get out of dinner at my parents. I was also desperate not to go alone so I was playing all my trump cards.

On the other side of the line I heard him sigh in defeat and I grinned.

"Dinners at seven" I said then disconnected.


	2. Chapter 2

I looked at my watch it was eight-thirty. I needed to get to work, I grabbed my car keys, purse, and my coat then headed out the door, locking it behind me. When I was outside I walked over to my car, a dark blue Ford Taurus. Equipped with scratches and dents, oh the joy of used cars!

When I arrived at the office, Connie was at her desk and Lula was sitting on the couch with her head in a bucket of fried chicken. The door to Vinnie's inner office was closed, a "do not disturb" sign hanging from the doorknob. Usually I don't care what Vinnie is doing but today curiosity got the best of me.

"What's with that?" I asked nodding toward the door.

Connie looked up from her work and raised her eyebrows at me in a way that said _do you really want to know?_

"Never mind," I said I could take a hint, "What do you have for me today?"

Connie opened the top drawer on her desk and took out two folders. She handed them to me and as I opened the first one Connie started talking; "First is Carl Polaski, a first time offender. He's a domestic violence case, caught his girlfriend cheating on him and slapped both of them around. He failed to appear in court on Wednesday." It was Friday and by his picture he didn't look like he posed much of a threat.

"Second," Connie said as I opened the other file, "is Roger Blake, a repeat. He was arrested for carrying concealed and breaking and entering. Vinnie bonded him out and he failed to appear yesterday." Connie looked thoughtful for a moment then something clicked and she grinned. "Blake, I remember him. You brought him in before on B and E charges!" She stared into space remembering. I was also remembering but I was hoping no one else would, that wasn't an arrest I was particularly proud of. I had found Blake on the floor in his apartment passed out drunk and… naked. Eww! I wanted to leave him there but I had a deadline to make. The guys at the station haven't let me live down the time I had to drag in a FTA wrapped in only a blanket. He was heavy too. "You know," Connie said, serious now, "you can give this guy to Ranger he sounds kind of dangerous."

"When he's conscious." Lula added from beside me.

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to retort but stopped short when I realized Connie was no longer paying attention to me, rather something beyond my shoulder. I was guessing it was Ranger. I cut my eyes to Lula and she was fanning herself with her hand, which confirmed the Ranger theory. A few seconds later I felt the warmth of Ranger's hand on the small of my back and with his other hand he took the files from my hands. He was so close I could feel his breath on my neck.

"Carrying concealed and B and E," he said, "you want me to take… Wait." He chuckled lightly, "Blake I remember him."

"UGH!" I cried, "It wasn't my fault! I had to bring him in and I didn't want to touch him so I cuffed him then wrapped him in a blanket I found on his couch."

Behind me Lula coughed to hide a laugh and I swiveled around to give her my best death glare. She raised her eyebrows and returned the glare. I averted my eyes and sighed. I looked up and realized Ranger was looking at me expectantly humor shining deep in his eyes.

"No!" I snapped grabbing the files from him, "I can get him, thank you."

He grinned at that "Babe," he said leaning down to kiss my forehead, "call me if you need me." Then he was gone. I walked to the window and watched while he angled into his black Porsche Turbo and drove off. The place on my back where his hand was placed was still warm and I was starting to sweat. The fact that his scent was lingering in the air wasn't helping either I needed fresh air.

"Okay," I said, "I'm gonna go get Carl." I looked at Lula, "You coming?"


	3. Chapter 3

_**I am sorry I haven't updated till now but I have decided to take the time mostly because my loyal and trustworthy friend Alycia AKA bakared4ever has been bugging me about it. (Thank you by the way) This chapter is way longer than the rest so hopefully you like it more. **_

_**P.S. I love getting feedback even if it is criticism (good criticism) so R&R please!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters they belong to JE. Not that I wouldn't mind having ownership of Ranger and the Merry men **__****__** (that would be FUN!)**_

Lula and I exited the office while I rooted around my shoulder bag for my keys. I still had my head in my bag searching for the keys when I walked to the curb where I was certain I had parked my car.

I found the keys and looked up to be greeted with nothing but an empty parking spot. I figured that I had walked to the wrong space so I looked up and down the street, but I couldn't find the car. I was stunned. I stood there, staring at the space where I had earlier parked the piece o' junk Ford.

It was funny, I hated the car but it was also all that I had at the moment. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. What came out was a half-strangled choking sound. I tentatively reached out a hand and felt the air where my car should have been and surprisingly enough, all I felt was air. I guess I was hoping an alien sprayed my car with invisible spray making it unseen to the human eye. Unfortunately my theory proved wrong.

_Okay _I thought _I'll just close my eyes and count to three then, when I open them it will be there. I'm just tired and my eyes are playing tricks on me…right?_

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Ready," I said aloud, "One, two, three…open."

I hopefully opened one eye than the other, but the only thing I saw was the building across the street from where I was.

Exasperated I sank down onto the pavement and sighed. I looked up to the sky and spread my arms wide. "Why me?" I asked and I heard Lula laugh behind me.

"Girl," she said, "You know you sound so much like your mama. I might have to come over and make sure you don't start cleaning and ironing. Or if you do you could start on my place."

"UGH." I groaned and laid back on the ground to look up at Lula, who was standing over me. I gave her my best pissy look. "I am not, I repeat NOT turning into my mother. And besides I would never iron I would much rather shoot myself in the head." I made the sign of a gun with my hand and pointed it at my head then pretended to pull the trigger.

Lula grinned. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Okay so now that I don't have a car or even a hunk of junk that resembles a car," I rolled my eyes, "I guess we will have to use yours." I looked around but couldn't find that one either. "Where is it?"

When I looked over at her she looked slightly sheepish, and -it was hard to tell because of her skin tone- but it looked like she was blushing.

"Well… you know that appointment I had the other day well we went in my car and it got a lil bumpy and one o' the tires popped. So it is in the garage right now."

The appointment she was talking about was with Tank, and if I had to guess they were trying to be quick and instead of going to either apartment they decided to do their "business" in the firebird. Then they got carried away and they popped a tire.

Great

Not only do I have no way of transportation but I also just had to listen to a really disturbing story in code. Yuck!

I was looking at my feet trying not to either laugh or throw up or both. So I just remained silent.

Lula cleared her throat. "So what are we gon' do?"

"Um… I think I am done for today things have gone wrong and I have plenty of time later to catch this skip so I think I will call Morelli to pick me up."

"Oh, in that case I think I will call Tank for a ride also he brought me over today."

"Hopefully that car survives." I mumbled under my breath then grinned.

"What?" Lula said, looking over at me suspiciously.

"Nothing." I said quickly putting on an innocent expression.

"Sure." She said and mumbled something and I caught only parts of it that sounded like "white girl…making fun…big boned."

That was it. I totally lost it.

I started laughing so hard that my sides were hurting after only a few seconds. I was lucky I was already on the ground because if I was on my feet I would have fallen over for sure, and frankly the look that Lula was giving me could probably bring a grown man to his knees.

When I got control of myself Lula gave me one final glare, huffed, then went back into the office. I knew she wouldn't be mad at me for long, she isn't capable of being mad at me for any long period of time.

I took my cell phone from my bag and dialed Morelli's number.

"Hey cupcake." He answered.

"Hey," I started, "I need a ride."

There was a pause. Then he started bombarding me with questions. "Are you okay? Was anyone inside when it blew up? Did you see who blew it up? How long ago did it happen? WHY WASN'T I TOLD?

He had to take a breath so I took the advantage to talk I was starting to get angry. "Whoa! Wait a minute! My car didn't blow up for one, for two, why does everyone assume that my car has blown up when I ask for a ride? For three, stop yelling at me I didn't DO anything." By the time I stopped yelling I was out of breath and my anger was dimming.

There was silence for a few beats. "So… then…what happened?" He asked confused.

I was trying hard to control my temper. "My car was stolen and by the way why can't you have just said 'Sure cupcake where are you?' Huh? Would that have hurt?"

I heard him sigh when he talked his voice was soft "I am sorry cupcake. Where are you I will come get you."

That's better. "I'm outside the office on the curb." Then I hung up.

I knew that I was pushing his buttons hanging up on him so much, but he seems to continually make me angry. So as I see it, it's his fault.

About ten minutes later Morelli pulled up beside me. I got into the car and saw that he had Bob with him.

"Were you at home?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Bob. I figured you wouldn't have him if you were on duty."

"I guess you're right. Where to?"

I was feeling bummed out and I needed a pick me up so I decided to play with him, just a little. "Well… I was sort of hoping we could go back to your place. Today has started out badly." I rested my hand on his thigh and I could feel his muscles harden under my hand.

"I could fix that." He said his voice husky.

I leaned over and whispered in his ear. "I was _really_ hoping you would say that."


End file.
